


Blind Justice

by Tarlan



Category: In the Kingdom of the Blind the Man with One Eye Is King (1995)
Genre: Extended Scene, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-26
Updated: 2006-09-26
Packaged: 2017-10-18 17:18:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jackie Ryan reflects on his past and the present as he teaches his betrayer a lesson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blind Justice

Unlike the Mafioso with its family traditions Ryan had not inherited his kingdom, instead he had pulled himself up from his white trash roots, first as a soldier then gradually working through the ranks until he reached the top.

His father had been a lazy, good-for-nothing con artist; a grifter, who's plans of becoming rich faltered beneath his own innate stupidity. He had started using his son in his cons from a very early age. In fact, Ryan's mother had alluded to a day when she returned to their trailer home after her twelve hour waitressing and cleaning job to find both her husband and six month old baby son missing. Rumors soon reached her of a man begging on the streets for money to feed a pitifully wailing infant. He had deliberately starved the child to produce that cry, hoping to pull at the conscience of passers-by, coercing them into parting with a few dollars.

Despite the beating he had received that night, the cons continued, his son used and abused in the name of expediency so his father wouldn't have to consider looking for a real job to support his family.

Ryan killed his father soon after his twelfth birthday when his old man had tried to sell his virgin body for a hundred bucks to the sleazeball that ran the nearby used car lot. That man had followed his father to the grave soon after, under very unusual circumstances, but no-one could prove that it had been anything other than an accident, for if there was one thing Jackie Ryan could not stomach, then and now, it was the trafficking of innocent, young flesh.

He prided himself on the fact that there was no prostitute, male or female, in any of the stables that he took protection money from, that was under the age of legal consent and, unlike with the Mafioso, none of those prostitutes were held unwillingly, every one of them could leave whenever they liked... as long as they did not move over to the competition.

The only man who had ever crossed him on these rules had suffered the same fate as the man being dragged ahead of him by two of his soldiers.

The tidal cave was large, its rocky floor still wet from the recently receded water but the tide rarely reached too far inside. It led, eventually, to a large area open to the sky where a few scrubby trees had managed to take root, making it an ideal location for what he felt he had to do.

Ryan paused a moment, reflecting on the 'crime' his lieutenant had committed against him: Betrayal. He had only barely escaped from the trap set for him; had seen two of his most trusted associates gunned down as he threw himself behind the steel-plated door of his limo. His surviving men had captured one of the gunmen, had tortured the man until he revealed the name of his betrayer.

Ryan fingered the gold cross that hung from his left ear; a gift from his mother when he had attended his first Mass. He was not deeply religious, although he did believe in God and in the Son, but his mother had been a devout Catholic, dragging her son to church twice every Sunday for morning and evening service. Ryan was under no illusions that, eventually, he would pay for his crimes. He knew he had committed many sins; had broken several of the Ten Commandments.

 _Honor thy mother and thy father._

He loved his mother and could honestly say that everything he had done had been for her. His early memories were filled of her fatigued but loving face. He remembered the dark circles under her green eyes, mainly from tiredness, but all too often blackened by her lazy, loutish husband. He remembered her coarse hands stroking his hair as she tried to soothe his hungry body to sleep on those occasions when his father had stolen every cent she had earned to pay for his booze, cigarettes and cons, leaving them without even the means to buy a loaf of bread.

He had no regrets about killing his father. To be honest, he had no physical likeness to the man and often wondered whether he was his father's son at all. If that were the case then, perhaps, this was one commandment he had yet to break.

 _Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not covet they neighbor's house..._

Well, perhaps not his house but most certainly his wife. He had been guilty of breaking all of these over the years, but the others still remained intact--although the temptation to commit adultery with his neighbor's wife had tempted him on more than one occasion.

One of his soldiers removed the gag that had silenced his treacherous lieutenant and Ryan was disappointed as the man began to beg for his life, trying to make him understand why he had set up the ambush. Did he truly believe Ryan would not protect his own people? If Johnny Vineri had threatened the man's family then he should have come to him for protection. If Vineri had made him an offer that was hard to refuse then he should have asked Ryan if he would do likewise.

"The coward dies many times before his death..."

Ignoring his words, the man continued to beg for his life, pleading with Ryan to save him.

"Save you? I can't save you. I don't even have the power to forgive you."

He spoke, more to himself than to the agonized man as the nails were driven through the man's flesh and he was raised onto the cross. Confused as to why Vineri would want to kill him anyway.

"I don't bother them; they don't bother me."

There was plenty to go around, there really had been no need for Vineri to order the hit on him, but the Italians had always been greedy.

As to Johnny Vineri... If the Mafia boss wanted a war then that is what Jackie Ryan would give him but, despite the incompetence of his 'father', Ryan had learned from an early age that there was 'more than one way to skin a cat'. He would destroy Vineri from within, would plant a seed of fear and doubt within his 'family'; a seed of betrayal that would grow like a cancer to consume them all. He had already decided how to accomplish it; had already discovered the weak link in Vineri's entourage and, even now, his right-hand man was approaching one of Tony C's most trusted men, Paulie, with an offer the man would find impossible to refuse.

Ryan gave his ex-lieutenant one final look.

"Well, look at you... A death fit for a King."

From experience he knew it could take several days for the man to die but Ryan was not that sadistic. His men had orders to leave him hanging for no more than ten hours--enough time for the man to reflect on what he had done and make peace with his maker--then one of them would put a well-placed bullet between the man's eyes.

He turned away, that chapter of his life already over.

****

The following day Ryan returned to his mansion at the top of the hill and wandered into the Sun lounge where his mother liked to sit and read. She looked up at him and smiled.

Her eyes were no longer blackened by fatigue and fists; her hands were now lined with age but the skin was soft and not coarse from harsh detergent, and her unkempt, dirty blond hair was now streaked with gray but well-coiffured. A beautiful gold cross hung around her neck; a present from her only son many years ago, bought with the first money he had ever earned. In his eyes, she was still beautiful and she would always *be* beautiful.

She stood up slowly, her years of back breaking work--waitressing at the truck stop and cleaning floors--having lent a stoop to her thin, aging shoulders.

"Jackie... is everything alright?"

"Yes, Mom. Everything's fine."

"In that case, come over here."

She beckoned to him with a curled index finger and he smiled at the secretive expression on her face as he moved forward. Reaching into the gap between the cushions, she pulled out a gaily wrapped package and held it out.

He took it, green eyes lighting up in pleasure as the wrapping fell away under long, busy fingers to reveal a first edition of a book he had loved from childhood.

"Perhaps we can read it together."

"Yes, Mom. I'd like that."

As he bent forward to kiss her cheek she held him for a moment.

"Happy birthday, Jackie."

THE END


End file.
